Downie, acquired last week from Colorado, was hurt in his first game with the Flyers during a fight with Washington forward Aaron Volpatti. Downie suffered a concussion during the scrap and was sent to the hospital following the game for observation.

The 26-year-old has since missed Philadelphia’s last two games, a 1-0 win over the Devils and a 2-1 OT loss to Carolina.

man, I don’t see how that punch that landed caused that much damage to his brain/eye. I know Volpatti has some fightin’ hands, but I didn’t know they’d do THAT.

joey4id - Nov 7, 2013 at 7:17 PM

Hey! It doesn’t take much for the brain to suffer damage. In now way am I comparing a hockey punch to one delivered by a boxer, but you can draw enough conclusions on your own to understand the implications of a punch to the head/helmet. And if a concussion goes undetected as a result of a fight, then it has been proven that the chances of that player suffering another concussion are greater. This is why I have written here before that anyone who is assessed a major for fighting must undergo ImPACT testing.

The Sahlgrenska researchers concluded that a punch by a professional boxer can be as powerful as a 13 pound bowling ball traveling at 18 miles per hour.

Big surprise. Keep doing nothing NHL and the future alumni games are going to be filled with players that can’t do basic math or remember their mother’s names.

Apparently, the well being and future cognitive skills of their players means very little to the NHL brass. Just bring in the money NHL players and don’t worry about your brains being moosh when you retire.

I think they should eliminate heads in hockey. If you bring your head to the rink, you aren’t playing. That simple.

Actually not to be insensitive to your point, but as we see more emphasis being put on concussions, we also see an increase in reported cases. Five years ago a player could be bleeding from the ears and the coach would just ask him if he was alright…if the answer was yes, back on the ice he goes. These days any substantial contact will get you a trip to the dark room, and if the team fails to do that they are heavily scrutinized.

You’re obviously well versed in the subject of concussions and their degenerative effects over time. Unfortunately, the NHL brass is more interested in profiting from their product than they are protecting it. Akin to the NFL until they were called to congress. Perhaps it will take a hearing in congress for the NHL to clean up their act.m or worse, someone to die on the ice in the NHL because that in any other league is still not an eye opener. Keep up the good and intelligent posts.